In the sixteenth century, the push for greater precision in measuring time was not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation: sailors simply needed more highly accurate timepieces in order to computer their longitude form the positions of the stars.
A. not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation
B. being motivated by the practical matters of navigation, instead of complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as it has been recently
C. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, like they were more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation
D. motivated by the practical matters of navigation, not complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, which was the case more recently
E. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as has been the case more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation